The View from a Cathedral - 2018

Stanislaw Elsner-Zaluski as prof. Marek Siemek

For some time I've been toying with the idea of blogging about a progress of one of my productions.  This hasn't happened yet, but several updates regarding "The View from a Cathedral" actually show a process of finishing a project.  It's been years (budget, budget, budget) and finally the final version is done.  I am beginning to seek exposure to this documentary and will be posting the results.

"The View from a Cathedral" (53 min.) explores the drama of prof. Marek Siemek (1942-2011), a Polish philosopher highly esteemed in Germany (a specialist in Transcendental Idealism) caught in the torment of loyalty, friendship and betrayal that resulted from the 1968 anti-Semitic purge in Poland.

In Polish, German and Italian - with English subtitles. 

more info at http://www.directing.com/cathedral.html    

THE VIEW FROM A CATHEDRAL

Stanislaw Elsner-Zaluski as Marek Siemek
in
"The View from a Cathedral"
formerly "The Department of Historical Necessity"

The Marek Siemek documentary has been trimmed down to 85 minutes and acquired the new title.   „The View from a Cathedral” encompasses the three territories the film travels through: the visual, the metaphorical and the academic. 

The search for the title that would fit was long and tortuous not only to me but also to those who were close to the production.  Thank you all! 

Various titles were considered: at first I pitched the story as „The Philosopher who died twice”.  Then I cut a trailer for „The Department of Historical Necessity”. Then came Aufhebung, Reason is free, freedom is reasonable, Honoris Causa, A Philosopher and the nation of devils.  And plenty more that I will save for later.  No, not for another change.  For a brand new project, I mean. 

What’s important for now is that The View from a Cathedral has entered the final post-production stage.  

A man on the street interview

It was during one of my visits to the old country:  I interviewed this man in January 1990 in Warsaw, just outside a building where the last congress of the Polish Communist Party was held.    It was a rushed exchange and I did not take the man's name. 

He was clearly a well educated, bright and quite angry fellow with a fabulous insight.  He could be a sociologist/historian.  But could be also a representative of a different trade.   Difficult to say since a lot of Poles are quite savvy discussing ethics and politics.

I am considering using this interview in the "Aufhebung", the Marek Siemek documentary and would really like to find this man.  

Does anyone know how to get in touch with him?   

The Siemek Project Update

Stanislaw Elsner-Zaluski as Marek Siemek in "Aufhebung"

The Marek Siemek film got a new title. It’s no longer “The Department of Historical Necessity”, or even "The Department of Accidental Necessity", but instead its now “Aufhebung.”  Don’t worry, the film will start with a definition of the term.

The old title will still remain for now in trailers, money applications, posters, blog and website entries.

It will be a long film.  Hopefully moving fast though.

I am working on setting its openning nigh for early March next year.

Stay tuned.

SIEMEK - Philosophical coincidences

prof. emeritus Bronislaw Baczko, University of Geneva, 

previously Warsaw University
(Marek Siemek considered  Baczko his Teacher and Master) 

For the last year of so I have been working on a documentary about prof. Marek Siemek (1942-2011).  The film, with the working title "The Department of Historical Necessity", is half way through shooting.  In order to seek additional support (thanks to the institution and individuals who have already helped) I will share some of the aspects of the process on this blog.  Gathering the material I have been privileged to meet and talk with many amazing scholars and friends of Siemek. To start with I’ll try to signal their upcoming presence in the film.   

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A seasoned and perceptive Teacher sees an eager and brilliant Student.  

What does the Teacher know about the future of the Student who badly wants to write his MFA thesis about Hegel?

He knows nothing, aside perhaps from some psychological intuition that belongs to wise men, you say.  OK.  

The Teacher gently steers the Student to write about Fichte instead. 

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814) was emotional and passionate.  It killed him.  Which is just a footnote in the history of philosophy.  Or is it?

The Teacher explains to the Student  that “Fiche is simpler and more manageable, later you can approach such a vast subject like Hegel.”

The Student agrees.   The argument is solid.  

The Teacher, recalling this conversation focuses on the common sense aspect of their joined decision.  It’s all logical, emphatic, proper.  

Times passes.  Actually a lifetime does.  

The Student dies too early but lives long enough to imprint his mark on the world.  He turns out to be brilliant, accomplished, nurturing his environment.  In this respect very much following the footsteps of his (beloved) Teacher.  

The Student’s legacy reveals his great oratorial talent, like Fichte.  It also reveals him being painfully misunderstood by his contemporaries, again like Fichte.   And suffering from right wing zealots, which matches the Fichte’s story as well.  

According to some, the Student died because he miscalculated human reactions, because his impulses did not take under account the brutal jealousy of his opponents.  That to a large degree matched a certain drama in Fichte’s life.   

How much of that could be known to the Teacher when he was suggesting Fichte?

None, you say.   

And on a certain level you are right.  

However......